Skip to contents

Check whether raw vignettes/articles are in sync with their outputs

Source: R/check_raw_vignettes.R
check_raw_vignettes.Rd

Compares modification times of each vignettes-raw/<path>.Rmd (recursively, so articles under articles/ are included) against its corresponding vignettes/<path>.Rmd. A source newer than its output means the output is stale and should be regenerated with precompile_raw_vignettes().

Usage

check_raw_vignettes()

Value

A data frame with columns name, source, output, source_mtime, output_mtime, and status (one of "fresh", "stale", or "missing_output"). Returned invisibly. Also emits a message summarizing any stale items.

What this catches

The common case: you edited the raw source and forgot to precompile before committing or releasing. mtime comparison reliably catches this.

What this does not catch

This check uses file modification times as a heuristic and will miss several categories of true staleness. Treat its "fresh" verdict as a weak guarantee, not a strong one. Specifically, it cannot detect:

  • Changes to package source code. If you edit R/foo.R so that foo() now returns different output, the captured output is logically stale even though the source .Rmd is unchanged.

  • Changes to data files. Updates to inst/extdata/, data/, or any external file the source reads from will not be detected.

  • Changes to dependency package versions. If a dependency changes behavior between rebuilds, the captured output may no longer reflect what the code now produces.

  • Touched-but-unchanged sources. Opening and re-saving the source without editing it updates its mtime and falsely reports staleness.

  • Branch switches. git checkout updates file mtimes, which can make everything look stale immediately after switching branches.

For a robust freshness guarantee, the only reliable approach is to run precompile_raw_vignettes() whenever any plausibly-relevant input has changed.